Resetting Xbox • Hacker News Board

Re: Resetting Xbox

#681

Post by rob74 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:06 AM UTC

chrisfosterelli wrote: post #120

rockyj wrote: post #24

This is a total mess IMHO. - The make around 5 billion in revenue per quarter - The problem according to them is profit margin - around 150-160 million So first of all, they are big! Secondly they are not at a loss. They just have a "thin, non-growing margin". So to fix all this they are trimming down, so they can "return to growth" (which I think is ridiculous). Some points - - They are huge business even now - 5 bi…

With due fairness, these are two different sets of leaders and two different strategies. A lot of the strategy you outlined -- buying all these studios, replicating netflix, giving away day one games, raising game pass -- was a strategy put in place by Phil Spencer. Phil pushed for this investment with the promise it would pay off later for MS. He's talked publicly about having to convince Nadella to put up ungodly a…

So, Phil gets a golden parachute, and all the studios that got bough up because of him will be "set free" if they're lucky and disbanded if they're not. Yay for capitalism...

Re: Resetting Xbox

#682

Post by orloffm » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:08 AM UTC

Apocryphon wrote: post #127

manytimesaway wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point wasn't about Nintendo ruining things in-house rather than them following the exact same trends than Sony & Microsoft, only a few years late. MP4 is what OP was talking about, an "interactive Hollywood" experience that betrays previous Metroids, adds discutable open-world design cues, and locks features behind $30 figures.

This isn't the first time Nintendo has outsourced a disappointing Metroid game, if Other M is any indication. Remains to be seen if this is part of a larger trend for that company.

But Dread was wonderful, so if this outsourcing produced even one such a game, it was worth it after all.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#683

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:09 AM UTC

tracker1 wrote: post #75

hbn wrote: post #16

It was pretty rich seeing armchair video game industry analysts act like the new CEO was gonna usher in a new age for Microsoft's gaming division because she got to announce the updated logo and some games that would have obviously been in development long before she became CEO. Microsoft is never going to figure out gaming. It's more art than engineering and they can barely manage the engineering with all the interv…

To me, the graphics abilities have been there for a decade... what we need are better games and gameplay. More fun games without gotcha, pay to win, loot box efforts. Too much effort is going for dazzling graphics at the expense of overall gameplay. How many people are still playing CoD, WoW and so many other games from over a decade ago? How many refreshes of Final Fantasy have we seen? The graphics can only carry y…

It's... odd that while Steam is the biggest PC gaming platform and the biggest platform for new, unique, interesting games ever, Microsoft isn't investing more in the people developing games for it. Microsoft can use it to filter out the slop, make offers to the best games, offer help with porting to consoles, and (probably most importantly) offer to put them into the xbox live program, because the xbox live subscription is xbox's biggest source of recurring revenue.

Access to Steam's library for a fixed monthly price would be huge. Actually I'm surprised Steam/Valve isn't offering that yet, it'd be huge, and for their new consoles it would be a perfect fit.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#684

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:09 AM UTC

monkpit wrote: post #538

tracker1 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, the graphics abilities have been there for a decade... what we need are better games and gameplay. More fun games without gotcha, pay to win, loot box efforts. Too much effort is going for dazzling graphics at the expense of overall gameplay. How many people are still playing CoD, WoW and so many other games from over a decade ago? How many refreshes of Final Fantasy have we seen? The graphics can only carry y…

> gotcha Gacha? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gacha_game

They're the same picture

Re: Resetting Xbox

#685

Post by rldjbpin » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:11 AM UTC

rockyj wrote: post #24

This is a total mess IMHO. - The make around 5 billion in revenue per quarter - The problem according to them is profit margin - around 150-160 million So first of all, they are big! Secondly they are not at a loss. They just have a "thin, non-growing margin". So to fix all this they are trimming down, so they can "return to growth" (which I think is ridiculous). Some points - - They are huge business even now - 5 bi…

xbox is not a startup and neither m$ a vc. the board is not in love with gaming to continue sponsoring it. but if the solution is to make it even worse to game in their platform, then i hope this crashes and burns for good.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#686

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:13 AM UTC

mvdtnz wrote: post #451

tracker1 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, the graphics abilities have been there for a decade... what we need are better games and gameplay. More fun games without gotcha, pay to win, loot box efforts. Too much effort is going for dazzling graphics at the expense of overall gameplay. How many people are still playing CoD, WoW and so many other games from over a decade ago? How many refreshes of Final Fantasy have we seen? The graphics can only carry y…

> Too much effort is going for dazzling graphics Could have fooled me. I haven't seen a meaningful improvement in game graphics for at least a decade.

There's improvement in tech - check out the Unreal Engine's tech demos for example - but that doesn't really translate into visible end results because one, modern hardware can't handle all the bells and whistles, and two, when you're playing it all just blends into the background, and composition/art direction trumps details and fidelity every day of the week.

That said, the tech isn't wasted, it's also used in film graphics and animations and the like. And photo mode, where games can open up all the registers because framerate isn't as important then.

But yeah. Unreal tech demos, or if you have a PS5, there's a free tech demo called The Matrix Awakens that showcases advancements from a few years ago (heck it's been 4 years already).

Re: Resetting Xbox

#687

Post by BadBadJellyBean » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:15 AM UTC

rightbyte wrote: post #143

BadBadJellyBean wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was always very skeptical of the $300 million figure. It sounded like the same math that the movie industry used for pirating. If I was subscribed to Game Pass I might have downloaded CoD to see what it's about. That doesn't mean I would have paid full price for it.

Maybe MS paid the publisher full price for your "see what it is about"? Wouldn't be anything but Uber or Moviepass.

CoD is by Activision. They are owned my Microsoft.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#688

Post by orloffm » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:16 AM UTC

operation_moose wrote: post #380

Flere-Imsaho wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reading this made me remember why I stopped playing my Xbox One: never-ending updates. My experience with Steam is very similar (I don't have it run on startup because I like my PC to do other things from playing games). Online updates really have ruined gaming for a lot of people. Just like vinyl, humans seem to prefer a physical "thing" they pick up - put in the machine - and instantly have access to the "thing".…

I've been replaying a lot of Gamecube (emulated) games recently and its kindof shocking just how quick you can get into the game. From hitting run Run to first Player Input is seconds in most cases. No console bootup, no system updates, no game patches, no agreeing to game EULA version 5.129912342, no denying the game access to online content on every third screen, etc. I'm sure its loading slightly faster emulated,…

Pretty much the Switch experience. It sometimes downloads updates, but system updates are like 10 seconds, and games are updated in the background seamlessly. I don't play Fortnite, but it's also always updated in the library.

Yes, if you don't keep it powered, it won't do that, but why wouldn't you if it just stays in the dock dark and quiet?

Re: Resetting Xbox

#689

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:16 AM UTC

msftgreed wrote: post #516

pibaker wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one wants "the game only Microsoft can make", everyone wants another great Zelda. Or Gears of War. Or Satisfactory. Or Mina the Hollower. Or UFO 50. Or Animal Well. This IMO is a display of what is wrong with a lot of online gaming discourse — it is dominated by people who spend more time playing and critiquing games than 99% of the population and has a tendency to overemphasize indie darlings and ignore the mas…

Sure, I love a Forza Horizons (I'm not much for mainline Forza), but those games aren't really experiencing the same scope creep as the the rest of the industry. Call of Duty is, but it's also noteworthy that sales of CoD are slumping. Hard. Like down-by-60% hard. And the gamepass numbers aren't really boosting it back up. Also, I think you'll find my list absolutely included big games. Gears of War? Zelda? These are…

Sales is one thing, recurring revenue is another. Their mobile titles are also huge.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#690

Post by Sander_Marechal » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:18 AM UTC

johnnyanmac wrote: post #535

orpheansodality wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did you mean Pentiment, led by Josh Sawyer at Obsidian?

Yes, apologies for the misspelling. Very likely another game that wouldn't "succeed" in a traditional release, but would potentially get people into a subscription service. Despite that loss leading strategy, Obsidian has had quite a few other releases that did to make up for that side project. So the studio would overall be in the green despite that.

I loved Pentiment, but it was soooo much reading.